Pittsburgh Half Marathon Race Report!

Sunday was NOT my day. I'm going to choose to focus on the positive parts of the weekend, and not the race. I have gone back and forth with how I feel about this race for a couple of days. On one hand, it was my 3rd worst time and I was mentally defeated BEFORE I even started the race. I didn't put in the miles that I needed to while training and DEF didn't get enough sleep or proper fuel the week of. I felt slow and fat and wet and sluggish for the entirety of the race AND the worst part is I barely had fun.

On the other hand, I finished. I spent a somewhat-restful and productive weekend with my in-laws, hubby, and even visited with my sister and our family friend because they were in town. I got some quilting done for some baby quilts I'm making and I got in a wonderful 60 minute hike after work on Friday. I made it through our state inspection and I had two awesome dinner dates the week leading up to it. We had a friend over to watch the draft. I had a week full of family and friends and fun (I couldn't not alliterate there!) and despite no sleep and throwing up my breakfast the morning of the race, I still ran it, got my medal, overcame terrible weather and negative self-talk.

hanging with my sister saturday afternoon! always a blast to see her :)

Mi 1-4

9:00, 9:08, 9:00, 8:59 I was feeling good! My A goal was to run a post-college PR (I ran a 1:51 in college but since then I have run a 2:04 and wanted to beat that. That meant I needed to do   Yes I went out too fast but I'm always afraid if I don't I never will go "fast" at all throughout the race. It rained mi 1-3 and then i was still able to pick it up for one more mile then...

Mi 5-9

10:26, 9:36, 10:29, 10:23, 10:00 At this point I was "hanging on" and could've potentially made my B goal which was to beat my 10 mi time from March and run faster than a 1:39 (I would run a 1:38:29 so beat it by 31 seconds. That's something I guess!). The hills and being soaked all over were really starting to get on my nerves!

Mi 10-finish

At this point I was at my C goal which was just to finish. I was so depleted after puking up my breakfast that I just had nothing to keep me going. Even the gel I finally took at mile 10 didn't help. My last few miles were: 11:28, 11:17, 12:09, 9:56,1:40--last .2. As you can see I finally got a little bit of motivation to finish strong at mile 13 but not as much as I needed! I finished with a time just in the middle of all 4 of my other half finishing times. Totaly miles/time was 13.21 mi in 2:13:30.

13.1...(NOT pittsburgh!)... I'll be back for you. And this time, I'll be ready!

yes i wore my shirt and medal to work yesterday! trying to convince myself to be proud of my accomplishment :)